Makrana Marble Pierced Jali Light Column, 20in

The shadow is the product

This 20-inch column does not light a room. It takes a small light source and turns it into a pattern that lands on the walls, the ceiling and the surface it stands on, several times larger than the piece. The lattice is graduated — the perforations start small and dense at the foot and open up progressively toward the cap — so the cast pattern is dense and tight near the base and loose and wide overhead. Standing next to it, you are inside the pattern.

A lattice that changes as it climbs

A jali cut by hand tends to repeat one module at one size, because that is what a template gives you. This one shifts continuously from bottom to top, which is a job for machine cutting followed by hand finishing — the equipment sets out and roughs the graduation, the sculptors clean every opening and soften every edge. The stone is Makrana white marble, dense enough to keep narrow bars between openings intact at this height.

Where it sits

A hall corner, the end of a console, beside a low chair, or on the floor against a plain wall where the cast pattern has room to open out. It wants a plain surface behind it; a busy wallpaper will swallow the effect entirely.

Making yours

Height, taper, and the lattice geometry itself are all open, and the column can be built for a tealight instead of a wired lamp if you would rather keep it simple. It is cut for you by the master sculptors we work with in Jaipur. Allow four to eight weeks, at the longer end if the lattice runs fine at the base.